Roundhouse Kickstart The New Masters Martial Arts Documentary

Check out the teaser for this new documentary in production about the current state of Kung Fu and MMA in China. Titled, The New Masters, directors Christopher Cherry and David Dempsey explore the meeting of these two methods of martial arts in the mainland. The film goes from the commercial side of fighters preparing for the glory of the MMA stage to those in remote villages practicing these martial forms. They follow these characters as they train, work to support their families, and continue the legacy of China's most famous and treasured cultural export.

It’s a fascinating project considering how these ancient martial arts are adapting in order to stay competitive on the international circuit with other giants of hand to hand combat. The development of these arts mirror China’s own emergence as a global power, resulting in the dilution and mixing of these traditions with other fighting styles from around the world in order to keep up with the current state of martial arts worldwide.

Check out their Kickstarter page and help them continue to fund this project, which is currently a third of the way through shooting. They need cash money for more hard drives to store and backup up their footage and also for additional cameras to maintain a uniformed look to the footage, and for travel/lodging for the crew. The desired goal is USD 15,000 to complete the project, and with 27 days to go they've raised USD 4,261. May this tasty footage of kung fu gold wet your appetite for this important documentary.

Correction: An earlier version of this article named Sascha Matuszak as the director. Matuszak is in fact the writer/producer.

More stories by this author here.

Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com

Photo: The New Masters